“Being confined, and therefore in video, represented a gas pedal for setting up collaborations. “
Guillaume Bollot, Co-founder of SYNSIGHT
With my partner Cyril Bauvais, we created the company SYNSIGHT in 2013. Our team and I are located at the Genopole and hosted by the University of Evry, south of Paris. We are focused on the discovery and design of new therapeutic molecules. In France, we are the only ones to combine cell imaging and computer-aided molecule design with Artificial Intelligence.
What services does SYNSIGHT offer?
We propose an innovative platform, which combines Artificial Intelligence and cell imaging screening. Artificial Intelligence combined with computer-assisted drug design can accelerate certain discovery phases and propose new chemical entities. The second part of our platform, i.e. the cellular screening by imaging, allows us to obtain several thousand photos of cells. Moreover, thanks to the use of a patented biomarker, we are able to qualify and quantify the effect of organic molecules within these cells.
The back and forth between computer science and biology finally allows us to propose new effective molecules to industry and to optimize them to have the best possible behavior, for example to avoid toxicities. One of the interests for the industry is to reduce the development time and budget to increase its research capacities on the drug discovery phases.
How did your company experience the COVID period? Have you adapted your activity / solution and how?
Within the company we are 6 employees. We have a part of the team specialized in computer science and the other one in biology, so we need a laboratory.
We have put in place telecommuting solutions for all of us since February. The objectives initially planned for the second half of 2020, have been implemented for the first half of 2020 and in particular during the COVID 19 period. The containment allowed us to think about and implement a telecommuting format within the company, even for after COVID.
During this period, we also developed a special solution for the COVID 19. A computational solution that allows rapid identification of molecules targeting SARS-Cov-2 proteins across multiple chemical libraries. These may come from suppliers or companies wanting to position their molecules, in this case their chemical know-how to fight against COVID 19.
During the containment, was it easier to adapt digitally than biologically?
Yes, there are several of us working in “informatics”, in particular in molecular modeling. Connecting remotely to computing servers was already part of our company’s DNA.
On the other hand, for the biologists we had to adapt. It was more difficult, there were restrictions on access to the laboratories, we could no longer go there.
On the positive side, there was a boom in video conferences that allowed us to exchange with leading groups of institutes or pharmaceutical laboratories. Actors with whom it would normally take months to get an appointment. That was the advantage.
The fact that we were confined, and therefore had to do videos, was a gas pedal for setting up collaborations.
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Guillaume Bollot, Co-founder of SYNSIGHT
